For public and private sector agencies to improve their programmes and services, strategies and systems for learning and internalizing best practices and lessons learnt must be in place. Agencies in the non-profit sector are extremely “knowledge intensive” and rely heavily not only on the knowledge of their employees but the collective knowledge of the organization. Public and private sector agencies that become “learning organizations” are constantly innovating their products and services, viewing knowledge as a currency, and have human resource policies and procedures that staff the agency time and resources. Learning organizations systematically analyze their programs and services, thrive on change, and low knowledge loss from staff turnover. Making the transformation to a learning organization requires not only a commitment from the top management of the agency, but also the leadership skills that are needed to manage change.

This one-week course focuses on turning individual knowledge into organizational knowledge and how to create systems and policies to solve problems and improve programme impact.

6 – 10 September 2010

This course is designed for senior personnel of non-profit organizations; including civil society organizations, donor agencies, foundations, state and federal ministries and international development agencies.

An organisation’s knowledge is one of its most important assets. One of the biggest challenges within an organisation is how to manage, document, use, and share the knowledge that employees have. Institutional knowledge is frequently used ineffectively, misplaced, or lost. As a result, organisations lose time and productivity, and use additional resources to retrieve, re-use, and regenerate knowledge and information. An effective knowledge management strategy will enable an organisation to generate, codify, store, use, reuse, share, and disseminate knowledge inside and outside of the organisation This will lead to improved performance, time and resource management. Carrying out a knowledge management strategy will also enable staff to share best practices and lessons learned resulting in improved programs and services.

The purpose of this one-week course is to build the capacity of non-profit organisations in knowledge management by equipping participants with the knowledge, information, and skills to develop and carry out an effective knowledge management strategy.

20 - 24 September 2010

This course is designed for senior personnel of non-profit organizations; including civil society organizations, donor agencies, foundations, state and federal ministries and international development agencies.

CAFS is a regional collaborating centre of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its worldwide effort to improve the quality and scope of reproductive health. Launched in 1996, “Operationalising Cairo and Beijing: A Training Initiative in Gender and Reproductive Health” is a collaboration of the WHO Secretariat, Women’s Health Project of the University of Witwatersrand and the Harvard School of Public Health.

The Initiative offers a three-week core curriculum in gender and rights in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS for senior programme managers, planners, and policy-makers. The course uses a unique format of core modules and regional case-material. The content has been adapted to highlight regional priorities and current controversies in diverse countries in relation to the MDGs and the ICPD and Beijing Plans of Action in the context of HIV/AIDS.

Course focus

• The gender concept and reproductive health
• Gender analysis
• Gender policy approaches
• Social determinants of health
• Gender mainstreaming in RH and HIV/AIDS programmes
• Health systems analysis
• Sexual and reproductive rights
• Gender and HIV/AIDS

24 July – 14 August 2009

The course is suitable for both senior and middle-level managers, planners and policy-makers. They will be individuals directly responsible for influencing or making policies to implement the MDGs and the Cairo and Beijing Programmes of Action. The course is beneficial for participants from both public and NGO sectors.

The programme of action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) called on all countries to provide a full range of sexual and reproductive health in an integrated manner within the context of the primary health care system. In order to support the health care system to achieve this goal, Sexual and Reproductive health managers are frequently asked to add or integrate different types of health services to help serve better the needs of the client and make services more cost effective. Consequently managers are asking frequent questions about exactly when, where and how the new health services can be integrated into the current ones. These questions are often answered on the basis of personal beliefs, rather than on a rigorous framework for assessing the specific changes needed to deliver integrated services effectively.

This two-week course has been designed to reinforce the capacity of health managers and planners in managing integrated RH/FP services and implementing effective HIV&AIDS programmes. The course is designed to explore the different aspects of integration and examine key management systems that may need to be adapted to effectively deliver services in an integrated setting. The course also provide guidelines for assessing integration at several different organizational levels and offers practical experiences on how to make integration work better in RH/FP programs.

1 - 12 November 2010

This course is designed for programme officers, managers and planners working in the field of RH/FP and HIV & AIDS in various sectors including ministries of health, HIV & AIDS NGOs, SRH organizations, civil society and for-profit organizations; programme managers/officers working for multi and bilateral organizations that are responsible for providing technical assistance to national organizations or projects will also benefit from this course.

Nairobi, Kenya

The increasingly fast moving and competitive environment we face in the 21st century demands greater leadership and management from people in order to make organizations prosper. Various factors inside and outside the organization affect performance and contribute to an organisation’s results. Throughout Africa, dynamic leaders and managers of RH and HIV/AIDS programmes are seeking practical assistance in leading and managing their organizations and programmes. The reality of the HIV/AIDS epidemic requires that RH and HIV/AIDS programmes are well designed and managed in order to achieve desired results.

This two-week course provides state-of-the art guidance to Reproductive Health and HIV&AIDS Program Leaders and Managers who are dedicated to achieving organization and program success through modern leadership and management techniques.

4 - 15 October 2010

This course is designed for senior programme managers and chief executives of governments and NGOs involved in Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and related health sectors. District, national or regional RH and HIV/AIDS senior programme managers working with Ministries of Health, national or international non-governmental organisations are excellent candidates for this course.

Nairobi, Kenya

Advocacy has become a requisite tool for reproductive health and HIV & AIDS programme managers and service providers throughout the continent. As competition for scarce resources increases, advocacy skills become important tools in influencing the decision-making process regarding resource allocation. This two week course provides hands-on experience in designing, developing and setting indicators for monitoring and evaluating an advocacy campaign and strategy aimed at influencing policy change.

Course focus:

• Identifying problems, policy issues and solutions
• Setting advocacy goals and objectives
• Identifying and researching audiences
• Developing and delivering advocacy messages
• Using data to advocate for health policy development and planning
• Formal and informal decision-making processes
• Building alliances, networks and coalitions
• Self-development skills
• Effective presentations
• Resources mobilisation
• Monitoring and evaluating advocacy efforts

7 - 18 June 2010

This course targets programme managers and staff of government departments and NGOs who wish to influence policies in their agencies and/or communities, professionals in institutions, associations and networks involved in advocacy, researchers interested in promoting the utilization of their findings, trainers and lecturers who work with advocates.

Nairobi, Kenya

Reproductive Health (RH) and HIV & AIDS programmes must show impact to ensure that the programs and services are effectively making a difference. Managers of these programs must be held accountable, show impact, and carefully select areas of investments in order to maximize the impact of scarce resources. Thus, impact assessment has become a major step in the planning and implementation of RH and HIV & AIDS programmes, and monitoring of on-going projects has become an important internal management tool.

Unfortunately, the capacity to assess impact on an on-going basis and make the results of such assessment part of the continuous process of planning and implementing RH and HIV & AIDS programmes is still weak in many developing countries. Although the demand for such training and skill building is very high, only few organizations offer such training in the region.

In response to this, CAFS has developed a one-week course to provide hands-on skills in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation systems and tools in HIV & AIDS programmes. The course provides training in fundamentals of monitoring and evaluation tools and techniques and is offered at two different times of the year.

May: 24 - 28 May, 2010
August: 23 - 27 August, 2010

Nairobi, Kenya

Promoting positive behaviour change is a complex process requiring a thorough understanding of what motivates people to adopt or resist new behaviours. Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) approaches recognise that presenting facts alone does not guarantee behaviour change. Individuals are greatly influenced not only by their own knowledge about issues but also by social pressures exerted by their peers and the larger community including culture, societal norms, laws and policies. BCC strategies are therefore designed to accommodate the stage of behaviour adoption of an individual and to impart knowledge and skills and provide psychosocial support that individuals need to initiate and sustain change.

Course focus
* Understanding Behaviour and Behaviour change
* Designing effective behaviour change communication interventions for HIV&AIDS, TB and Malaria programmes
* Promoting health literacy among communities
* Developing appropriate messages and materials to promote behaviour change

12– 23 July 2010

This course is designed for programme officers and managers working in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and health education in various sectors including ministries of health, HIV/AIDS NGOs, reproductive health organisations, civil society and for-profit organisations. Programme Officers working for multi- and bi-lateral organisations that are responsible for providing technical assistance to national organisations or projects will also benefit from this course.

Applicants should complete a course application form in detail and mail to: The Director Centre for African Family Studies CAFS Centre, Mara Road Upper Hill P.O. Box 60054 00200, Nairobi, Kenya or fax to:
Fax: +254 (0)20 273 14 89 or mail to:
Email: courses@cafs.org
Internet: Click here

Nairobi, Kenya

Gender-based violence is a pervasive public health and human rights issue throughout the world. While international declarations and frameworks with recommendations on how to deal with perpetrators of gender-based violence exist, they are, by themselves, not adequate to change people’s attitudes and practices, which in many communities are reinforced by gender norms and power relations.

The consequences of gender-based violence are a major obstacle to reducing poverty, achieving gender equality and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. International conferences and conventions including the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have made various recommendations including legislation to address gender-based violence. Prevention and response interventions to gender-based violence should adhere to internationally agreed guiding principles, and programmes should incorporate the minimum recommended response services.

Programme managers and health care service must have the technical capacity to engage communities to examine and challenge cultural values and norms without creating misunderstanding, unnecessary tensions and antagonism. This two-week course provides practical skills in designing and implementing interagency and multi sectoral programmes and interventions to respond to gender-based violence in the community and especially among populations affected by armed conflict.

12 April – 23 April 2010

This course is suitable for programme managers/coordinators and health care providers responsible for developing and implementing interventions to address gender-based violence in different contexts. They will include staff from humanitarian organizations, health institutions, civil society organizations, development partners and technical assistance agencies.

Applicants are advised to seek financial assistance from bilateral and multilateral agencies and organisations operating in their own countries such as USAID, CIDA, UNFPA, FAO and GTZ. Participants are advised to ensure that payments are made by the sponsoring agency before the training programme begins.

Applicants should complete a course application form in detail and mail to: The Director Centre for African Family Studies CAFS Centre, Mara Road Upper Hill P.O. Box 60054 00200, Nairobi, Kenya or fax to:
Fax: +254 (0)20 273 14 89 or mail to:
Email: courses@cafs.org
Internet: Click here

Nairobi, Kenya

Every organization strives to find the necessary funding to achieve its mission. In order to be sustainable, non-profit organizations must diversify their sources of funding. Resource mobilization and proposal development is an important part of the grant seeking process, yet it is a challenge to many organizations. Organizations must look beyond proposal writing, and focus on a strategy for developing proposals, networking with donors, and having systems for cost recovery and income generation.

This one-week course is designed to provide skills for developing project proposals using a logical framework, which encourages the discipline of clear and specific thinking throughout the proposal development process. The course also introduces participants to the concept of “donor mapping” (researching and networking with donors) and the skills for designing, implementing and evaluating an efficient resource mobilization campaign.

10 - 14 May 2010

The course is suitable for board members, directors, managers and programme officers who wish to diversify funding and resources for their organizations, which include government institutions NGOs and the private sector.

Applicants are advised to seek financial assistance from bilateral and multilateral agencies and organisations operating in their own countries such as USAID, CIDA, UNFPA, FAO and GTZ. Participants are advised to ensure that payments are made by the sponsoring agency before the training programme begins.

Applicants should complete a course application form in detail and mail to: The Director Centre for African Family Studies CAFS Centre, Mara Road Upper Hill P.O. Box 60054 00200, Nairobi, Kenya or fax to:
Fax: +254 (0)20 273 14 89 or mail to:
Email: courses@cafs.org
Internet: Click here